Monday, July 16, 2012

Yes, I believe that qualifies.

Remember a little while back when I said there seemed to be a snag in Stoke City's pursuit of Houston Dynamo man Geoff Cameron? Well, it's safe to say that the Chronicle's Jose de Jesus Ortiz found it: a million bucks.

His 2012 salary is listed at $230k so a $2M valuation is a pretty good number. The issue that Cameron has if MLS continues to play hardball, he'll be stuck until his deal expires or when he decides to sign a new deal with MLS with a higher salary and a specified buy-out number.

Examples like this are why some players decide to go directly to Europe rather than sign with MLS. They've taken this approach with Dempsey, Twellman, etc.

What I'm struggling with is if the Dynamo are OK with the $2M, why is the league taking such a hardline stance here?

If you're a feeder league, which the MLS is, it must matter if one of your two or three best defenders is only worth $1 million. And they must have known, going in, that a relatively cash-poor club like Stoke was going to low-ball.

I would think they would value the player on comps, not his salary. Though you raise a good point, if he has only 12 months left on his contract, that's a different story.

I dunno, without knowing the details, I wouldn't imagine the MLS is being unreasonable necessarily. I think they have to manage a group of players, and it matters how each is valued, especially when you have a relatively few amount of "marquee" transactions like this.

Remember, the purchasing team not only has to worry about paying the transfer fee, but the amount of the fee paid clearly dictates what the new player's new salary will be. While it's easy to tell the bidder to just raise their price, they have to be mindful of the 2nd part of the equation. When most clubs have gotten into financial trouble, it's been their wage bill that has put them there.

I wonder if MLS will force Cameron to forgo his share of the fee in order to make the deal happen. That's their MO in these situations.

I seem to keep on remembering stories of transfers following this pattern: 1) teams agree to transfer fee, timing, and any residuals 2) team and player agree to terms.My understanding is that while fee and wages will typically track loosely (that is, a more highly paid player is likely to command a large transfer--because he's good), they are also fairly distinct. After all, a player available on a free transfer isn't going play for free--there are other conditions.

I think of it like this--a player is an asset with some operating costs. Those two things are casually, not causally, linked.

@Jay: even at $2 million my argument still remains the same. He is in his prime, a national team player and one of the leagues best. $2 million is chump change and I fully support MLS busting Stoke's balls over it. They have to negotiate hard, that's one of their jobs.

Who is NSC?

NSC is run by Greg Seltzer (MLSsoccer.com), who has reported on soccer across the globe since 2001, covering MLS, MLS Cup, U.S. Men, Women & Youth national teams, World Cup, Gold Cup, U-20 World Cup, the UEFA European Championship, UEFA Champions League and Europa League, UEFA Cup, CONCACAF and UEFA qualifiers, Premiership, Bundesliga, Eredivisie, various second-tier leagues, domestic cups and international friendlies.